Losing teams still believe

GIANTS Winn: Expectations don't really matter

Last week, Giants right fielder Randy Winn was asked what it was like to start a season knowing his team had little chance to contend. He had plenty of experience in Tampa Bay.

"I've never believed that," Winn said. "If everything worked out the way everybody expected, what's the fun in that? For me, I always look at it like we could be a team that can play well."

Perhaps the Giants can beat expectations of 95 to 100 losses. But what if they can't? How do players stay motivated to grind for 162 games when they know their biggest reward is not a trophy, but what comes twice a month in their pay envelopes?

To be fair, the Giants are not there yet. They have played precisely one series, losing two of three in Los Angeles, and as they start their second series against the Brewers today it would be unfair to relegate them to the scrap heap of history's worst teams.

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti, the former Brian Sabean assistant, does not believe the Giants will make that list.

"I don't think it's going to happen," he said. "I think they're in the process of retooling after Barry (Bonds) left. They've got as good pitching as anybody in the division. The division's got a lot of good pitching, but they've got as much or more than most.

"Once you start to get some momentum to it, you don't know what's going to happen. They could have a much better year than people think. I don't just say that because I love Sabes, but I really feel that way because they can pitch, they've got a great manager and a real good coaching staff.

"I think people this time of year are always looking for a negative, always looking for 'Woe is us, woe is us.' I don't think that's this kind of club."

But what if it is?

Right now, Giants players insist they are not thinking in those terms. Privately, they probably understand this will be a tough year, but Winn said that even in the infancy of the Devil Rays, they earnestly started their seasons with high aspirations.

Take 1999, the franchise's second season and Winn's first full year in the majors. The Rays were 11-9 at the end of April and 22-20 on May 21. Then, reality set in. Tampa Bay lost nine of its next 10 and wound up 69-93.

"During that first month, we were right there," Winn said. "During a lot of years, what happened to us was, the Yankees happened to us."

Indeed, it is hard enough for a bad team to compete in a mediocre division, but even tougher when the team atop the division perennially spends $200 million on payroll.

On the other hand, the Devil Rays reveled in beating the Yankees, which has happened often.

"They killed us," former New York manager Joe Torre said, and therein lies one way a team such as the Giants can find satisfaction should they wallow in the second division. On many nights, they will be matched against some of the best pitchers and teams in baseball. Beating them carries its own reward.

"It scared you," Torre said of the Yankees' games against Tampa Bay. Owner George Steinbrenner hated those losses, too, because he is based in Tampa.

"When teams that aren't supposed to be very good face good teams, it brings out the best. The Yankee uniform walks on the field, everybody seems to get dressed in their Sunday best. Pitchers go out there and you see their ERA is 7.43 and they shut you out for six innings. There's not a particular reason why it happens."

Giants third base coach Tim Flannery played on plenty of bad teams in San Diego before the Padres reached the 1984 World Series. For the younger Giants, he said, motivation is abundant. They want to prove themselves as major-leaguers.

But what about the older Giants? What will drive them in July if the team already is 15 games under .500?

"Your motivation is to put up the best numbers you can to keep them from totally rebuilding," Flannery said. "Your motivation also is, there are other clubs looking for your services at the trading deadline and ... if you're going to be a free agent, to put up the best numbers you can so you can make some money."